There are no related patent applications.
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to battle damage assessment, and more particularly to damage assessment immediately after impact of a remotely fired missile.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The televising of recent hostilities has familiarized the general public with the use of xe2x80x9csmart bombsxe2x80x9d and cruise missiles in such conflicts. These weapons generally take two forms. The first is a laser-guided weapon where the target is illuminated by a laser. In this case, the launching platform or other nearby platform illuminates the target and the weapon homes in on the laser energy reflected from the target. Typically, the laser illumination includes a camera that records the impact of the weapon and which can be used to assess the damage at the target location. However, the need for a platform to be in the general battle area to illuminate the target puts the platform at risk during launch and subsequent damage assessment.
The second type of xe2x80x9csmartxe2x80x9d weapon consists of self-guided, or pre-programmed missiles, such as a cruise missile. These weapons are generally launched from a platform remote from the battle area, thus providing platform protection. The weapon can include a guidance camera, which also transmits pictures back to the platform during flight. However, the camera is operative only until weapon impact. There is no opportunity to obtain assessment of the damage caused by the weapon without resorting to the use of some sort of reconnaissance platform within the battle area.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a weapon system and method for immediate battle damage assessment.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a weapon system and method that can assess battle damage without putting a launch or reconnaissance platform at risk within the battle area.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a weapons system and method that can be launched from a platform remote from the battle area and can supply damage assessment back to the platform after impact.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious hereinafter in the specification and drawings.
In accordance with the present invention, a weapon system and method is provided in which a missile is fitted with a releasable pod containing a small camera. As the missile approaches its target, sensors within the missile release the pod a short time immediately before impact. When released, the pod deploys a parachute to slow its descent and to further place the camera in the proper orientation to capture the impact and damage resulting from the impact. The pod also contains communications capabilities to relay the impact and resulting damage data back to launch control.
The system and method thus provide launch control with immediate battle damage assessments such that successive launches can be retargeted away from targets sufficiently damaged, or towards targets not sufficiently damaged. When used in combination with laser-guided weapons, the battle damage assessment is obtained without the need for maintaining the launching/guiding platform within the battle arena. The platform can vacate the arena as soon as the weapon has been properly guided to its target. The impact and damage data is obtained in the same manner as the data transmitted from the guidance camera of a self-guided or pre-programmed missile prior to impact. When used in combination with one of these missiles, such as in combination with a cruise missile, the pod may contain a separate camera in addition to the guidance camera. Thus, transmission does not stop on impact. Rather, transmission from the pod camera allows the remote launch platform to receive transmissions after impact from which damage assessments can be made. For those pre-programmed missiles not relying on the camera for guidance, or for those weapons systems that the release of the guidance camera shortly before impact will not effect their targeting, the pod camera can replace the standard camera used to transmit flight pictures to the launch platform.